Norges’ property portfolio balloons in Q1 but return slips

Norway’s giant government pension fund saw the market value of its real estate portfolio climb almost by half in the first three months of 2013 following a series of major deals. Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) - manager of the Norwegian Pension Fund Global - reported that the market value of the real estate portfolio stood at NOK 37 bn (€4.8 bn) in the first quarter of this year. This marked a 48% increase on the total of NOK 25 bn for the fourth quarter of 2012.
However, the fund’s investments in real estate returned -0.3% in the first quarter, down from a positive 0.49% for the previous quarter. In contrast, equity investments (62% of the fund’s overall holdings) returned 8.3%, while fixed-income investments (37%) returned 1.1%………………………………………..Full Article: Source